So. What's up?
Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a number of different posts and articles, none of which are as of now published. Why is this? Well, most of them discuss current-season content. As such. my snail pace at both writing meaningful content and watching airing shows made for blogposts that would straight up be outdated long before I could even hit publish. And as such, they are all as scrapped as me after yet another unsuccesful night out on town.
How to deal with this? I asked myself one day, while doing literally nothing but existing. And just then, I found it. This idea just came to me when I saw some madman in my YT recommendations had pulled together an ungodly ranking of several hundred OPs in video format. At which point, I thought
"Hey, that's easy! I can do that!"
So, how is this gonna work. Well, there are some formatting tidbits:
In addition, there's a few guidelines I used while sorting out this behemoth:
Alright? We good?
Then let's ikimasho, my fellow nihonsuki shitstains!
#100 - BanG Dream! Season 2 - Kizuna Music♪
Ah! Full CGI! Right where it belongs at the bottom of any list.
Jokes aside, Kizuna Music♪ is all good fun. The paper cut out style used in the first bit of the opening introducing all the characters is mad cute, the CG is quite alright, and the music fits the bill.
It's good, but not extraordinary. I just happen to be a Bandori fanboi, and PoPiPa deserves some love. Please listen to the girls sing a song. It's wholesome. It's cute. They're cute. I want to smell Rimi's armpi-
#99 - Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi - Birth
This show is an enigma. I know I watched it. I know I somewhat enjoyed it. Yet, here I am, in the year 2020, year of the rat, and I can't remember any of these characters except for shovel-loli. And even then, her name escapes me.
I don't even remember what it was about. There was death, I think.
At least there's hippie van.
Anyway, opening slaps a bit, so here it is.
#98 - Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregototsukai - Cobalt World
HAH! Stupid animator at Shaft! You forgot to turn on the goddamn V-Sync!
I'll be here all week.
#97 - Granbelm - Tsuki wo Ou Mayonaka
Granbelm's opening is, uh, remarkable! There's the bit at the start where they look through the stone... thingies and they have different expressions and stuff!
Okay, I admit it. I basically put Granbelm here because I want more people to watch Granbelm.
Please watch Granbelm.
#96 - Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon - Aozora no Rhapsody
Now this is quality! We've got Fhána singing a cute song, while the animation staff at Kyoto Animation flex with short, creative cuts and scenes. I've honestly got no real complaints about this one, it's just pretty good overall.
Could probably have placed this and the next entry higher, but what's done is done.
#95 - D-Frag! - Stalemate!
I had a long and hard 17-second think about whether to rank this or Kobayashi above the other. The answer I came up with was the following:
Hot damn, this OP is a mess, but hotter damn it is a beautiful one! Out of openings that try to capture the base feel of the show it represents, few can match Stalemate! and its bat-shit insane pace.
#94 - Kamisama Dolls - Fukanzen Nenshou
Not the most exciting OP visually, but the song is pretty sick so I decided to slap it on here. If I were to give compliments where compliments are due, I guess the style choice where they show two scenes simultaneously with only one being in full detail at a time is pretty neat. Makes for some cool transitions and shots.
I just wanted to put this here, really. It's a nostalgia thing.
#93 - Occultic;Nine - Senshuu 3 no Nijou
Two things stand out about this opening. No, I'm not talking about the gravity-defying bodily features belonging to one of the characters. I'm talking about the music and attention to detail.
Firstly, this anime's title includes a semicolon (;), and therefore Kanako Itō sings the theme. This is just one of the unviolable facts of the universe. It's well done and certainly among her better tracks.
Secondly, this sequence packs so many little clues and hints among its rapid cuts and backround work, it could make any brain implode on itself. Even more interesting is that not nearly every single thing has anything to do with the plot itself, meaning the actual clues lies hidden in a sea of red herrings.
Even watching it again for this review, I was surprised to see things I never noticed before. Guddo jobbu!
#92 - Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ - TESTAMENT
You're probably staring at the screen in shock. Seeing me put Symphogear anywhere near the bottom half of the list, much less in the bottom 10, was probably thought to be impossible! But here it is! Contradicting the very laws of creation.
Maybe I just don't like Nana Mizuki and the sight of Maria Cadenzavna Eve's delicious pectorals that much, or maybe I just wanted to space out the Symphogear entries on this list for novelty's sake.
Whichever sounds more plausible to you.
#91 - ZOMBIE LAND SAGA - Adabana Necromancy
Now this! This slaps so goddamn hard. And not only that, theres sound effects, too!
You can't deny it. This OP practically oozes style in pretty much every conceivable way, from the horror elements the series parodies, to the manager cutting in to steal the show every few seconds. It honestly fits incredibly well, with the series being one of the most unique takes on the idol genre to come out in recent memory.
Five stars and a chicken nugget from me!
#90 - Flying Witch - Sharanran
Hey, you! Yes, you.
You sad?
clap clap clap clap clap clap clap-clap-clap clap clap-clap-clap
Now you're not.
#89 - Ao Haru Ride - Sekai wa Koi ni Ochiteiru
Another great example of an opening that more or less gets everything right. The watercolor theme present throughout the opening is pleasant to the eye, and the song is a bug that stays on your mind a long time after it's done.
Don't know what else to say. I've got no jokes or anything. It's just good.
#88 - Pani Poni Dash! - Shoujo Q
Girls always hide their true faces. They always wear persona. Happiness and unhappiness exist as one within the flip and flop side of the truth. I never had any friends leter on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Her dog loves butter.
"Watch your back. Shoot straight. Conserve ammo. And never, ever, cut a deal with a DRAGON."
There is a secret about these eyeglasses. Once again, there is a secret about these eyeglasses.
May the force be with you.
She is the most cheerful person in the school, but she is hiding a darkness inside her heart.
"God's in his heaven, all's right with the world"
Here's looking at you, Kid.
Pani Poni Dash ! OP3
#87 - Kanata no Astra - star*frost
Despite not even playing for half the episodes of the show, star*frost does enough to make it onto my list. It's admittedly very simple, shots are mostly either lifted from the anime or still pictures. Truly, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts in this one.
Or maybe I just have a thing for openings that use shapes and colors the way this one does. Who knows.
#86 - New Game!! - STEP by STEP UP↑↑↑↑
Cute. Girls. Doing. Cute. Things.
Literally can't go wrong with that. And New Game!! knows it. You have cute girls doing their cute things as usual, but what puts this one up a notch is that they show the girls actually doing what they're supposed to do. After all the shenanigans early in the OP is over with, we see the girls hard at work doing, y'know, work. As they should.
#85 - Nisekoi - CLICK
Was gonna put season 2's OP here, but that one revolves around worst girl, and it left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.
You can have OP1 instead. It's got every girl in (almost) equal measure, and is not bad at all either. In fact, this has got more nostalgia value for me personally. That's how I'm gonna justify this one.
#84 - Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Sakebe
Another mostly personal pick, and I can't really explain why. But man, the chills I get when the song kicks in with
IMAAAAAAAAAAAAA
(pause)
SAKEBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Sure, it's mostly an effect of my personal attachement to the series, but I do what I want damnit!
#83 - Shokugeki no Soma: Ni no Sara - ROUGH DIAMONDS
We arrive at one of the few "traditionally shounen" openings on this list. It's all about that hot-blooded firey action, babey!
Too bad it's about food and tiddies, and not punchy-fisty action.
Jokes aside, ROUGH DIAMONDS is inarguably the series' best OP, mostly carried by the absolute banger delivered straight to your eardrums by the group SCREEN mode.
What can I say? It gets you pumped for an episode of food porn worthy of putting any Instagram chef to shame.
#82 - Hanebado! - Futari no Hane
I could gush about this damn video for ages. Like, screw the show itself, this opening is more than enough eye candy.
Now, if you didn't see the .gif above for some reason, allow me to iterate exactly why this is so fucking good.
Holy guacamole, the motherfucking sakuga.
But, hey. If it's so good, why only number 82? Surely, this OP is better than whatever trash I've decided to fill this up with? Elementary, my dear Watson. The show it's attached to is garbage. Okay, I might be overreaching, but I certainly didn't enjoy it. And that, in my eyes, degrades this one by association. I wanted badmintonand sweaty girls, and it only barely delivered.
#81 - Noragami - Goya no Machiawase
I touched on style earlier, and how it makes an OP go from good to fantastic. This one follows that rule to a T. And it does it in a really simple way, using very few highlighted colors on top of an otherwise monochrome pallette.
The song slapping mega hard also helps a lot, although I prefer the sequel a lot more.
Oh wait, that's a spoiler for later... Oopsie!
Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a number of different posts and articles, none of which are as of now published. Why is this? Well, most of them discuss current-season content. As such. my snail pace at both writing meaningful content and watching airing shows made for blogposts that would straight up be outdated long before I could even hit publish. And as such, they are all as scrapped as me after yet another unsuccesful night out on town.
How to deal with this? I asked myself one day, while doing literally nothing but existing. And just then, I found it. This idea just came to me when I saw some madman in my YT recommendations had pulled together an ungodly ranking of several hundred OPs in video format. At which point, I thought
"Hey, that's easy! I can do that!"
 |
| It wasn't easy... |
So, how is this gonna work. Well, there are some formatting tidbits:
- The list will be split into five parts, 20 entries each. These things take hella time y'know.
- I'll put a GIF and a link to a .webm for each entry. For your viewing pleasure.
- And I'll jot down a paragraph of why I like said opening sequence.
In addition, there's a few guidelines I used while sorting out this behemoth:
- I have to have seen, currently watch, or dropped the show. (There are 3 or 4 exeptions to this in the list.)
- This basically invalidates every big name shounen anime from appearing on this list, with maybe an exeption or two.
- While I've been as accurate as I can, I haven't spent time nitpicking placements. If something seems odd, I likely just didn't give it a second thought.
- I judged based on music, animation, and how well the sequence fits the show itself.
- At the end of it all, I'm a biased, motherfucker who eats glue for breakfast. Shows I like have been favored somewhat, and I won't deny it.
Alright? We good?
Then let's ikimasho, my fellow nihonsuki shitstains!
#100 - BanG Dream! Season 2 - Kizuna Music♪
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/BangDreamS2-OP1.webm |
Ah! Full CGI! Right where it belongs at the bottom of any list.
Jokes aside, Kizuna Music♪ is all good fun. The paper cut out style used in the first bit of the opening introducing all the characters is mad cute, the CG is quite alright, and the music fits the bill.
It's good, but not extraordinary. I just happen to be a Bandori fanboi, and PoPiPa deserves some love. Please listen to the girls sing a song. It's wholesome. It's cute. They're cute. I want to smell Rimi's armpi-
#99 - Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi - Birth
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/KamisamaNoInaiNichiyoubi-OP1.webm |
This show is an enigma. I know I watched it. I know I somewhat enjoyed it. Yet, here I am, in the year 2020, year of the rat, and I can't remember any of these characters except for shovel-loli. And even then, her name escapes me.
I don't even remember what it was about. There was death, I think.
At least there's hippie van.
Anyway, opening slaps a bit, so here it is.
#98 - Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregototsukai - Cobalt World
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/KubikiriCycle-OP1.webm |
HAH! Stupid animator at Shaft! You forgot to turn on the goddamn V-Sync!
I'll be here all week.
#97 - Granbelm - Tsuki wo Ou Mayonaka
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/Granbelm-OP1-NCBD1080.webm |
Granbelm's opening is, uh, remarkable! There's the bit at the start where they look through the stone... thingies and they have different expressions and stuff!
Okay, I admit it. I basically put Granbelm here because I want more people to watch Granbelm.
Please watch Granbelm.
#96 - Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon - Aozora no Rhapsody
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/KobayashiSanChiNoMaidDragon-OP1-NCBD1080.webm |
Now this is quality! We've got Fhána singing a cute song, while the animation staff at Kyoto Animation flex with short, creative cuts and scenes. I've honestly got no real complaints about this one, it's just pretty good overall.
Could probably have placed this and the next entry higher, but what's done is done.
#95 - D-Frag! - Stalemate!
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/DFrag-OP1.webm |
I had a long and hard 17-second think about whether to rank this or Kobayashi above the other. The answer I came up with was the following:
Hot damn, this OP is a mess, but hotter damn it is a beautiful one! Out of openings that try to capture the base feel of the show it represents, few can match Stalemate! and its bat-shit insane pace.
#94 - Kamisama Dolls - Fukanzen Nenshou
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/KamisamaDolls-OP1.webm |
Not the most exciting OP visually, but the song is pretty sick so I decided to slap it on here. If I were to give compliments where compliments are due, I guess the style choice where they show two scenes simultaneously with only one being in full detail at a time is pretty neat. Makes for some cool transitions and shots.
I just wanted to put this here, really. It's a nostalgia thing.
#93 - Occultic;Nine - Senshuu 3 no Nijou
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/OcculticNine-OP1-NCBD1080.webm |
Two things stand out about this opening. No, I'm not talking about the gravity-defying bodily features belonging to one of the characters. I'm talking about the music and attention to detail.
Firstly, this anime's title includes a semicolon (;), and therefore Kanako Itō sings the theme. This is just one of the unviolable facts of the universe. It's well done and certainly among her better tracks.
Secondly, this sequence packs so many little clues and hints among its rapid cuts and backround work, it could make any brain implode on itself. Even more interesting is that not nearly every single thing has anything to do with the plot itself, meaning the actual clues lies hidden in a sea of red herrings.
Even watching it again for this review, I was surprised to see things I never noticed before. Guddo jobbu!
#92 - Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ - TESTAMENT
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/SymphogearS4-OP1.webm |
You're probably staring at the screen in shock. Seeing me put Symphogear anywhere near the bottom half of the list, much less in the bottom 10, was probably thought to be impossible! But here it is! Contradicting the very laws of creation.
Maybe I just don't like Nana Mizuki and the sight of Maria Cadenzavna Eve's delicious pectorals that much, or maybe I just wanted to space out the Symphogear entries on this list for novelty's sake.
Whichever sounds more plausible to you.
#91 - ZOMBIE LAND SAGA - Adabana Necromancy
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/ZombielandSaga-OP2-NCBD1080.webm |
You can't deny it. This OP practically oozes style in pretty much every conceivable way, from the horror elements the series parodies, to the manager cutting in to steal the show every few seconds. It honestly fits incredibly well, with the series being one of the most unique takes on the idol genre to come out in recent memory.
Five stars and a chicken nugget from me!
#90 - Flying Witch - Sharanran
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/FlyingWitch-OP1-NCBD1080.webm |
Hey, you! Yes, you.
You sad?
clap clap clap clap clap clap clap-clap-clap clap clap-clap-clap
Now you're not.
#89 - Ao Haru Ride - Sekai wa Koi ni Ochiteiru
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/AoHaruRide-OP1.webm |
Don't know what else to say. I've got no jokes or anything. It's just good.
#88 - Pani Poni Dash! - Shoujo Q
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/PaniponiDash-OP3.webm |
"Watch your back. Shoot straight. Conserve ammo. And never, ever, cut a deal with a DRAGON."
There is a secret about these eyeglasses. Once again, there is a secret about these eyeglasses.
May the force be with you.
She is the most cheerful person in the school, but she is hiding a darkness inside her heart.
"God's in his heaven, all's right with the world"
Here's looking at you, Kid.
Pani Poni Dash ! OP3
#87 - Kanata no Astra - star*frost
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/KanataNoAstra-OP1-NCBD1080.webm |
Or maybe I just have a thing for openings that use shapes and colors the way this one does. Who knows.
#86 - New Game!! - STEP by STEP UP↑↑↑↑
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/NewGameS2-OP1-NCBD1080.webm |
Literally can't go wrong with that. And New Game!! knows it. You have cute girls doing their cute things as usual, but what puts this one up a notch is that they show the girls actually doing what they're supposed to do. After all the shenanigans early in the OP is over with, we see the girls hard at work doing, y'know, work. As they should.
#85 - Nisekoi - CLICK
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/Nisekoi-OP1.webm |
You can have OP1 instead. It's got every girl in (almost) equal measure, and is not bad at all either. In fact, this has got more nostalgia value for me personally. That's how I'm gonna justify this one.
#84 - Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Sakebe
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/MahouShoujoIkuseiKeikaku-OP1-NCBD1080.webm |
IMAAAAAAAAAAAAA
(pause)
SAKEBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Sure, it's mostly an effect of my personal attachement to the series, but I do what I want damnit!
#83 - Shokugeki no Soma: Ni no Sara - ROUGH DIAMONDS
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/ShokugekiNoSomaNiNoSara-OP1.webm |
Too bad it's about food and tiddies, and not punchy-fisty action.
Jokes aside, ROUGH DIAMONDS is inarguably the series' best OP, mostly carried by the absolute banger delivered straight to your eardrums by the group SCREEN mode.
What can I say? It gets you pumped for an episode of food porn worthy of putting any Instagram chef to shame.
#82 - Hanebado! - Futari no Hane
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/Hanebado-OP1-NCBD1080.webm |
Now, if you didn't see the .gif above for some reason, allow me to iterate exactly why this is so fucking good.
Holy guacamole, the motherfucking sakuga.
But, hey. If it's so good, why only number 82? Surely, this OP is better than whatever trash I've decided to fill this up with? Elementary, my dear Watson. The show it's attached to is garbage. Okay, I might be overreaching, but I certainly didn't enjoy it. And that, in my eyes, degrades this one by association. I wanted badminton
#81 - Noragami - Goya no Machiawase
 |
| https://animethemes.moe/video/Noragami-OP1.webm |
The song slapping mega hard also helps a lot, although I prefer the sequel a lot more.
Oh wait, that's a spoiler for later... Oopsie!
